HOLYOKE -- Police Chief James M. Neiswanger said that "an entrenched heroin market" forces officers into daily fights, so he welcomes a program that removes infected syringes from the streets.

"The illegal drug market that exists certainly makes our jobs more difficult. If there were no illegal drugs in Holyoke our jobs would be easier. I can tell you most officers probably wish there were no illegal drugs and no used syringes. However, that is not the reality that faces our community," Neiswanger said in an email on Friday.

Neiswanger was asked to comment on a presentation that Tapestry Health made to the Board of Health. The health service provider has collected 475,175 used drug needles and distributed 438,100 clean ones since its needle exchange program began in 2012 at 15A Main St., said Liz Whynott, Tapestry's director of HIV health and prevention.

"There is an entrenched heroin market that my officers valiantly combat every day," Neiswanger said. "If having a needle exchange means there are less used syringes on the street that is a good thing. Tapestry reports they have collected more than they have given out."

The chief noted that Tapestry has provided a "hotline" phone number people can call to report finding a discarded needle, a removal of infected needles that makes officers' jobs easier, he said. (The hotline is 1-413-650-2679.)

"I am extremely proud of the men and women of the Holyoke Police Department. Every day they go out into the streets and do their jobs to the best of their ability in order to make our community safer," Neiswanger said.

Also, Patricia Mertes, the Holyoke Board of Health chairwoman, said the board is pleased with Tapestry efforts like making overdose-reversal medication Narcan available.

"The Board of Health really feels strongly that any type of access that people have to a program that can eventually offer treatment, safety is really, really important because we're really having a deadly opioid epidemic right now," said Mertes, a registrered nurse.

"Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States, according to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times.

"The death count is the latest consequence of an escalating public health crisis: opioid addiction, now made more deadly by an influx of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and similar drugs. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50."

"More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record, and the majority of drug overdose deaths (more than six out of 10) involved an opioid. Since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids -- including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin -- nearly quadrupled, and over 165,000 people have died from prescription opioid overdoses," the federal agency said.

Since needle exchange began in Holyoke in 2012, Tapestry Health has dealt with 24,562 clients. Some clients visited more than once but over 6,000 were unique visits, Whynott said.

Between May 1, 2016 and May 1, 2017, Tapestry collected 202,367 used needles and distributed 187,494 clean ones, Whynott said.

Mertes said it is understandable that people would say they are finding more drug needles on the ground and streets than ever. Holyoke long has had a heroin and thus a needle problem. But the city like many other cities and towns is experiencing unprecedented opioid abuse, she said.

"It's a crisis, and that's probably the reason" for the presence of more needles, Mertes said.

In needle exchange, intravenous drug users submit used, or infected, needles and get new ones in return. Supporters say such an exchange saves lives and money. Giving clean needles to heroin users discourages them from sharing needles that could be infected and lead to the spread of HIV-AIDS or hepatitis C, diseases for which there are no cures, they said.

Supporters of needle exchange said client visits are important because they often are the only way that an intravenous drug user can be exposed to referrals for treatment.

Needle exchange opponents said it doesn't make sense to give users the means to take illegal drugs by putting needles in their hands and then counting on them not to share needles.

Critics also shudder at Holyoke being known for a program that they said attracts drug users to a city already dealing with heroin and other illegal drug problems, essentially laying out a welcome mat for heroin use.